Ornament creates a pickle

Legend known only in U.S.

KEVIN SWANK / Courier & Press
The origins of the Christmas pickle is a matter of dispute.

The Christmas season is full of tradition &#8212; some religious, some secular, some specific to your family. One that seems to have taken root among Evansville's German community is the Christmas pickle.

Not only had you better be good for goodness sake, you had better be reading a lot of &quot;Where's Waldo.&quot; Santa is apparently rewarding not only good behavior, but also keen observation skills.

According to tradition, a pickle is hidden in the branches of the Christmas tree. The child who finds the pickle on Christmas morning gets an extra present from Santa Claus and is blessed with good fortune for the next year. Supposedly it is an old German folk tale.

However, the pickle of the pickle is that no one in Germany seems to celebrate the holiday gherkin, but German-Americans do.

Annemarie Bruner moved to the U.S. from Baden, Germany, 43 years ago and now lives in Boonville, Ind. The first time she heard of the Christmas pickle was here in the U.S.

&quot;There was no celebrating the Christmas pickle (in Germany) and I don't remember any of my other friends celebrating the Christmas pickle,&quot; Bruner said.

Germans celebrate St. Nicholas Day. Children put out a shoe for St. Nick to leave goodies, putting a wrinkle in the pickle tradition since it occurs on Dec. 6 &#8212; 19 days ahead of Christmas.

&quot;We expected Santa Claus to come around and got an orange, an apple and a couple of nuts. It was not like (Christmas) where you get presents,&quot; said Bruner.

Jim Kluesner, president of Germania Maennerchor, says the group puts up a Christmas tree and hangs a pickle for members to find on Christmas Day.

Germania Maennerchor celebrates St. Nicholas Day more than Christmas by performing their annual Carols by Candlelight.

&quot;We don't do a whole lot for Christmas. We hardly put out a live (tree) anymore because of fire hazards,&quot; said Kluesner.

Jim's wife, Wendelene Kluesner, who teaches German at Helfrich Park Middle School, said a Christmas pickle will be hanging on the family tree.

The first Christmas ornaments were invented in Germany. The city of Lauscha, known for its glass-blowing factories, began manufacturing ornaments in the 1850s.

A Google search for &quot;Christmas pickle&quot; brings up Web sites that all reference each other. They do seem to agree Germans don't celebrate Christmas with the Christmas pickle. One popular theory about pickle puts its origins in the Civil War.

The story goes that a Bavarian immigrant named John Lower fought for the Union and was captured by the Confederacy. Starving and close to death, Lower (or possibly his name was Lauer) asked a guard for a pickle as his last wish. He survived, attributing it to the pickle, although no one is sure if this event happened around Christmastime. Lower supposedly went on to hang a pickle from the tree as homage to his survival.

Another Web search speculates the holiday gherkin could be right out of Grimm's Fairy Tales.

Two boys were on their way home from school for the holidays when they stopped at an inn for the night. The evil innkeeper stuffed the boys into a pickle barrel. St. Nicholas happened by at the same inn, he tapped the barrel with his staff and magically freed the boys.

Macabre origins aside, the pickle ornament continues to hang from Christmas trees. Although Wendelene Kluesner, who spent one Christmas in Germany, doesn't recall seeing any pickles hanging on the trees.